How to configure the TrackPoint

2009-10-25T22:59:57Z

Jblackhall: /* Sensitivity & Speed */

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |Below are several ways of configuring the kernel psmouse driver for controlling extended TrackPoint features.
|}

= Configuration using Gnome=
If you are using GNOME, you might want to use [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/configure-trackpoint.html configure-trackpoint] as a graphical frontend.

= Configuration using udev and HAL =
Modern distributions like Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 use udev and HAL to configure the input devices. You should no longer make changes to xorg.conf as by default Xorg (through the evdev driver) will let the kernel now handle input devices.

But before you get started on this you should make sure you have all the updates applied from your distro vendor as both Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 require some additional fixes that you will need.

=== Vertical Scrolling ===
By default the middle mouse button is that, a middle mouse button, which in Linux is used for the Paste operation.

But you can configure it to act in the same way as in Windows, such that you can use it for vertical scrolling (keep the button pressed and move the TrackPoint up and down to scroll). To accomplish this create the file {{path|/etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi}} as root with the following content:

<pre>
<match key="info.product" string="TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint">
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheel" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelButton" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.YAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelTimeout" type="string">200</merge>
</match>
</pre>

If you also want to have horizontal scrolling, simply add the following XAxisMapping option to the above
<pre>
<merge key="input.x11_options.XAxisMapping" type="string">6 7</merge>
</pre>
After this reboot, or restart the hal service and Xorg. You can validate the settings with {{cmd|lshal|}}.

In some models (eg: X301) you may have to use "PS/2 Generic Mouse" instead of "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint". Have a look to your input devices typing <code>lshal|grep input.product</code>.

====Reactivate Scrolling after suspend/resume====
Scrolling may be disabled after a resume from suspend.

You can manually reactivate the trackpoint by reloading the {{path|psmouse}} module as root:
:{{cmdroot|rmmod psmouse && modprobe psmouse}}

You can automatically force the pm-utils to reload this module.
Create a file {{path|/etc/pm/config.d/01reload_mouse}} as root with the following content:
<pre>
# reload psmouse to reactivate trackpoint scrolling
SUSPEND_MODULES="${SUSPEND_MODULES:+$SUSPEND_MODULES }psmouse"
</pre>

===Configuring other options (e.g. Press to select, Sensitivity and Speed)===

Create a file {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/10-trackpoint.rules}} and add a line to suit your needs

<pre>
SUBSYSTEM=="serio", DRIVERS=="psmouse", ATTR{press_to_select}="1", ATTR{sensitivity}="122"
</pre>

Testing udev with {{cmdroot|udevadm test /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} should apply the new changes. All of the settings listed [[How to configure the TrackPoint#Sysfs_Options_Reference|below]] can be specified here as part of a comma separated list.

=Configuration using xinput=
If you want to modify changes on the fly, you can do so with {{cmd|xinput|}} (part of the optional xorg-x11-apps rpm on Fedora).
Note that these changes are not saved when the xserver is restarted.

To query the available options
xinput list-props "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"

To enable vertical scrolling
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Wheel Emulation" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint" "Wheel Emulation Button" 8 2

{{Todo|some other examples}}

=Configuration using sysfs=
Another way to modify changes on the fly, is echoing values directly into special files in sysfs.

{{NOTE|
The examples shown below are valid for ThinkPads with both TrackPoint and Touchpad, in which case the sysfs path is {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2}}.

If however you have a ThinkPad without Touchpad, or with the Touchpad disabled in the BIOS, the sysfs path needs to be changed to {{path|/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1}} instead (notice the missing serio2 at the end).}}

If you want to set the sysfs parameters at boot, you can use the [http://linux-diag.sourceforge.net/Sysfsutils.html sysfsutils] and put the preferred value in /etc/sysfs.conf.

===Press to Select===
Press to Select allows you to tap the control stick which will simulate a left click. You can enable this feature by typing the following in to a terminal (you may need to be root):

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

Press to Select should now be enabled. You can disable it in a similar manner:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select}}

You can use this script to automate the operation

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" = "1" ]; then
echo "Turning on tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
if [ "$1" = "0" ]; then
echo "Turning off tap on TrackPoint"
echo -n 0 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select
exit 0
fi
echo -n "Tap status: "
cat /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

In Ubuntu 8.10 to make Press to Select a permanent change:

echo -n 1 | tee /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/press_to_select

As root, append the above command above "exit 0" in /etc/gdm/Init/Default

===Sensitivity & Speed===
Adjusting the speed and sensitivity of the TrackPoint requires echoing a value between 0 and 255 into the appropriate file. For example, for a speed of 120 and a sensitivity of 250, type the following into a terminal:

:{{cmdroot|echo -n 120 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/speed}}
:{{cmdroot|echo -n 250 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity}}

Feel free to experiment with your settings until you find a combination that is comfortable.

When you satisfy your setting, add the two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local in order to avoid restoring the default setting every time the system reboots. In Ubuntu 9.10, add the lines to /etc/rc.local to avoid this.

===Vertical Scrolling===
No sysfs entry exists for vertical scrolling in kernels after 2.6.11.

The feature was removed as it was not a hardware feature, but rather emulating a scroll action in software and as such did not belong in the kernel.
Instead the scroll feature of the Xserver should be used, which can be activated with HAL or xinput as described above.

=Configuration using the X server (old Xorg only)=
{{NOTE|This only applies to old distributions with Xorg versions that did not yet use evdev. For modern distributions use one of the other methods}}
The scroll setting has been removed from the trackpoint driver in kernel versions 2.6.11 and above. Scroll emulation should now be handled in the X server.

A nice side effect of that is, that middle button scrolling applies to any mouse and not just the TrackPoint interface, which can be a quite handy feature for desktop computers or people who prefer to use an external mouse, especially when scrolling through long lists or needing to use horizontal scrolling with a mouse which has only a vertical scroll wheel.

The necessary functionality, known as "EmulateWheelTimeout" allowing to use button 2 for a middle click, wasn't implemented in Xorg prior to 6.9/7.0. However, there was a patch included in most distributions packages of Xorg, which was announced [http://www.mail-archive.com/devel@xfree86.org/msg03333.html here]. You can find an updated version of the package in the experimental branch of {{Debian}} or try to build the mouse driver yourself with the information in the announcement. This has successfully been tried with FC3's 6.8.2 packages.

Once this functionality is in the X.org, add these lines to your TrackPoint configuration section in {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}:

Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

It may also be necessary to add these lines:

Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"

which specify which buttons are mapped to motion in the vertical (Y) and horizontal (X) directions, respectively, in wheel emulation mode (see http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.4.html).

{{HINT| Use the program "xev" to see, what mouse button identifiers are sent by your mouse/touchpad/trackpoint.<br />You might want to try: "xev | grep button"}}
{{HINT| If it does not work see if evdev is installed and remove it. On gentoo do the following:<br />
eix xf86-input-evdev<br />
emerge -C xf86-input-evdev<br />
and then remove the evdev flag in make.conf INPUT_DEVICES}}

So, a complete mouse section, that implements this nicely and works very well on my R51, even with a simultaneously connected USB mouse, looks like that (tried out today, 20th of September, 2006 on Dapper):

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Emulate3TimeOut" "50"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelTimeOut" "200"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

The mappings for Y and Z are the same, since the "Z-Axis" refers to actual hardware scrolling wheels which usually scroll the screen along the Y-Axis. If there is no hardware scrolling wheel present, horizontal and vertical scrolling using the TrackPoint work fine without the Z-Axis line.

Now restart X and hold down button 2 and move the mouse to scroll, or just press and release button 2 for a middle click.

To make this work with the synaptics driver for the touchpad, you can add
Option "GuestMouseOff" "1"
to the synaptics device section. This will make the synaptics driver ignore the Trackpoint, so it will be handled by the mouse driver. This allowed me to disable the touchpad while making the TrackPoint work like it should.

{{NOTE| With the above mouse section in my xorg.conf all this works like a charm:
*I can press the wheel on my external USB mouse and move the mouse up and down for scrolling
*or I can just use the wheel on the external mouse for scrolling
*or pressing the MMB button of the trackpoint and use the trackpoint for scrolling.
*Even horizontal scrolling works automagically in Konqueror, for Firefox/Opera see below.

Simultaneously I can use
*a press on the external mouse's wheel
*or the MMB of the trackpoint

for pasting the buffer. Lovely! :) }}

{{HINT| If you don't use the middle-mouse-button for pasting and sometimes pasting things by mistake while scrolling (witch is really odd) simply set the "EmulateWheelTimeOut" to "1" as a (bloody) workaround. Middle click will only possible with pressing left and right button simultaneously!}}
=Application specific tweaks=
===Configure Opera for using trackpoint horizontal scrolling===
To fix horizontal scrolling in Opera, you need to edit the configfile <tt>standard_mouse.ini</tt> in e.g. /usr/share/opera/ini/ (Debian) or /opt/opera/share/opera/ini/ (Gentoo) and comment out the following lines
<pre>
Button6 = Back
Button7 = Forward
</pre>
so they look like that
<pre>
;Button6 = Back
;Button7 = Forward
</pre>
Remember, Button6 and Button7 do not so coincidental correspond with our X configuration we know from above:
<pre>
Option "YAxisMapping" "6 7"
</pre>
After this change you will be able to scroll vertically and horizontally with your middle button.

===Firefox 3 tweaks===
These settings make Firefox on Linux behave more like the Windows version. They were tested on an out of the box Fedora 10 system on a Thinkpad T61. Go into about:config, and set the following:

middlemouse.paste = false
middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
general.autoScroll = true

=Sysfs Options Reference=
{{NOTE|These options are current as of kernel version 2.6.29, 3 May 2009}}
{|
|-
! Name
! Type
! Default
! Notes
|-
| sensitivity
| Integer
| 128
| Sensitivity
|-
| speed
| Integer
| 97
| Cursor speed
|-
| inertia
| Integer
| 6
| Described as "negative inertia." It acts more like friction. High values cause the cursor to snap backward when the Trackpoint is released
|-
| reach
| Integer
| 10
| Backup for Z-axis press
|-
| draghys
| Integer
| 255
| Drag hysteresis (how hard it is to drag with Z-axis pressed)
|-
| mindrag
| Integer
| 20
| Minimum amount of force needed to trigger dragging
|-
| thresh
| Integer
| 8
| Minimum value for a Z-axis press
|-
| upthresh
| Integer
| 255
| Used to generate a 'click' on Z-axis
|-
| ztime
| Integer
| 38
| How sharp of a press
|-
| jenks
| Integer
| 135
| Minimum curvature for double click
|-
| press_to_select
| Boolean
| 0
| Press to select
|-
| skipback
| Boolean
| 0
| Supress movement after drag release
|-
| ext_dev
| Boolean
| 0
| Disable external device
|}
Table info taken from [http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=drivers/input/mouse/trackpoint.h;hb=HEAD here]. The given link will always point to the current version of the driver. If the notes seem sparse, that's because the code is sparse. On the other hand, the [http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/files/ykt3eext.pdf Trackpoint Engineering Specification Version 4.0]  contains more documentation information than anyone ever desired.

Installing Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) on a ThinkPad T61

2008-10-31T05:31:07Z

Jblackhall:

NOTE: I copied the 8.04 document and created this one with the information. Please help to update it so it accurately reflects 8.10.

== Items that work out of the box ==

'''Intel Video:''' 2D and 3D acceleration works

'''Nvidia Video:''' 2D and 3D acceleration works

'''Wireless:''' Intel cards tested. Atheros cards also works.

'''Wireless WAN:''' Cingular/AT&T card tested.

'''Network Card:''' Intel 10/100/1000 tested

'''Wireless switch:''' Tested (Only has an effect over the bluetooth, wifi is unaffected)

'''Webcam:''' Tested with cheese and skype.

'''Headphones:''' Works out of the box

'''Microphone:''' Just needs to be activated, see section [[#Audio|below]]

'''Keyboard Shortcuts:''' Most of them work out of the box, some need to be activated, see section [[#Multimedia_Keys|below]]

'''Fingerprint Reader:''' With ThinkFinger, not as functional after upgrade (need to hit 'Enter'), see below

== Items that need (some) tweaking to obtain full functionality ==

=== Open Source Intel Wifi Driver ===
The following information is important if you are upgrading from a previous version (2007 or earlier) of Ubuntu to 8.10.

Intel has created a new Linux Wifi driver project for Intel Wireless cards, "[[Iwlwifi]]". This driver is Open Source and no longer requires the Intel daemon to run in addition. This project will support the [[:Category:T61 | T61]]'s Wifi [[Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini-PCI Express Adapter | Intel 3945ABG network adapter]] and [[Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Mini-PCI Express Adapter| Intel 4965AGN network adapter]].

An automatic migration will occur when upgrading from [[Installing Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) on a ThinkPad T61|Ubuntu 7.10]] to Ubuntu 8.04. However, there is a caveat to be aware of:
* The new driver wants to name the interface wlan0 (by default -- you can rename it to anything you want), and requires a different entry in {{path|/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}}, which handles the naming of interfaces. Simply edit this file and delete your old entry for the ipw3945 driver, then unload/reload the new driver, or simply reboot. A new entry will automatically be created that is appropriate for the new driver. Here's an example of the lines to delete:
<pre>
# PCI device 0x8086:0x4227 (ipw3945)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTRS{address}=="00:1b:77:a4:0e:2f", NAME="eth1"
</pre>

If you need to perform a manual migration, the Ubuntu Help Community has written some [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/iwlwifi_Intel_3945_4965/gutsy documentation] that will make this very easy to do.

=== Network connection after suspend/resume ===
Networking may not work after a suspend or resume operation, this is because of the ath_pci driver and can be worked around by creating the file {{path|/etc/pm/config.d/madwifi}} and adding the single line
<pre>
SUSPEND_MODULES=ath_pci
</pre>
which causes the driver to be unloaded on suspend and reloaded on resume.

=== Fingerprint Reader with ThinkFinger ===
1. Open up your xorg.conf file:
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
2. Add to it (or uncomment if it’s already there):
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Generic Keyboard”
Driver “kbd”
Option “XkbRules” “xorg”
Option “XkbModel” “pc105″
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
EndSection
3. Under Section “ServerLayout”, add:
InputDevice “Generic Keyboard”
From: [http://www.eastwoodzhao.com/ubuntu-810-intrepid-ibex-thinkfinger-fingerprint-reader/ Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex - ThinkFinger Fingerprint Reader]

=== Emulate Wheel (Middle-click scrolling) ===
[http://mvogt.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/xorg-evdev-and-emulatewheel/ Michael Vogt described] how to get middle-click scrolling to work again in Intrepid. Xorg.conf is not used to configure mice and keyboards anymore, but evdev is. This makes the configuration of middle-click scrolling a little bit different than previous versions of Ubuntu. In terminal:
<pre>
sudo gedit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi
</pre>
Past and save the following code, which will give vertical wheel emulation only:
<pre>
<match key="info.product" string="TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint">
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheel" type="string">true</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateWheelButton" type="string">2</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.ZAxsisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
</match>
</pre>
There is [http://psung.blogspot.com/2008/09/scrolling-with-thinkpads-trackpoint-in.html another method] to get horizontal scrolling as well, but I don't think it worked for me.

ThinkWiki - User contributions [en]

How to configure the TrackPoint

Installing Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) on a ThinkPad T61